Boys Of The South
by ValkyrieReneStark
Summary: Rani and Nick Stokes were friends when they were younger, but go their separate ways. But when Rani witnesses a murder while in Las Vegas for a Book Tour, They meet again. Will the Flame be re-lit or will they be too different? NS/OC


**Boys of The South-Pistol Annies.**

**Nick/Oc**

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><p>Rani Harris was born in a small town in Iowa but when she turned sixteen her family moved to Austin Texas and got her first taste of southern men, in the form of Nick Stokes.<p>

"Rani come on!" Rani's brother James yelled from the living room, Rani's mother was having a co-worker and her family over for dinner tonight so she was dressed in a Mini Dress and a pair of leggings and a pair of Converses. Her hair was in a tight Ponytail that bounced as she ran down the stairs to the living room. Standing in the living room was a man and woman with a man who looked about James's age.

"Oh Rani, come, this is Bill and Jillian Stokes, Jillian and I work at the same firm, and this is their youngest son Nick." Lori Harris said with a smile. Rani took one look at Nick and felt herself blush. "this is my daughter Rani. She'll be starting her Junior year this year."

"Howdy ma'am." Nick said; rani melted right on the spot. James watched his sister flush as she shook Nick's hand and smirked.

"you said you were from Iowa correct?" Bill asked Rani's father, George, who nodded, Lori suddenly smiled as a timer goes off declaring that supper was ready and ushered everyone into the dining room. With some careful planning on James's part, Rani ended up sitting next to Nick, she shot her brother a dirty look before sitting down and taking a drink of her sprite, ignoring the smell of the woods and motor oil that drifted from The Handsome man beside her.

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><p>"you can't tell me you didn't think he was hot, Rani." Rani's mom said with a smile. "sweetie, if I was your age and I wasn't Happily married to your father, I would be so over that."<p>

Rani stared at her mother in disbelief. This is not the conversation she thought she was going to be having with her mother.

"Mom aren't you suppose to be telling me to stay away, he's 21, that five years older than me. Dear lord woman."

"Sweetie; if you were notorious for sleeping around I would but your like an old cat lady."

Rani looked at Mid-night then back at her mom clearly offended. That had been a present from James for her sixteenth birthday; she now understood why her father had laughed.

"i will not be a Cat Lady mother!" she muttered quietly petting the fluffy Black kitten.

"well don't be a lesbian either, then your father will win the poll." her mother said as if her family wasn't betting on their daughter's sex life. Rani stood up and grabbed her jacket.

"you people are unbelievable." She yelled as she stomped out of the house, muttering to herself as she went. She found a small park and sat on the swing and began to move.

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><p>Fifteen minutes later someone sat next to her and chuckled. Rani turned to find Nick sitting in the swing next to her. She mumbled a quick 'figures' and asked him what he was doing here.<p>

"your mom called mine saying you ran off, something she said, told my mom that it would probably be best if a third party retrieved you." Nick said with a smile causing her to blush. "so what did they do?"

"they're BETTING on my sex life." she yelled the anger returning, "mom said I'm going to be a cat lady. Dad's putting money on me being a lesbian and lord only knows what James said." Nick laughed and Rani sent a glare his way. "It's not funny. Who DOES that; bets on they're 16 year old daughter. I could see if I was still single at 30 but 16... Jesus this isn't the 1700's."

Nick stared at the brunette sitting next to him and smiled; he couldn't believe she was only 16; she seemed so much older than that.

"maybe they thought you'd laugh. Its not that bad I guess. Your mom could be setting you up with her co-worker's daughters." Nick said not realizing what he just said; Rani glanced at him and blushed. "i think your the first one that wasn't crazy."

Rani grinned at him and laughed.

"your not so bad either Nick." she said before standing up, "i should head home."

Nick smiled and walked her back home.

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><p>Five Months later tragedy struck; Rani's father was working at his Coffee shop that had being doing great the Three months it had been open. It was around closing time and Her father was cleaning up when two masked men ran in with a gun. They told him to open the cash register, as he begged them to just turn around and walk away with the money they shot him.<p>

Rani cried for days until the funeral; she sat next to her mother not focusing on anything but the big black coffin in front of her. She was way past the anger & Bargaining stage in grief. She was depressed; she had been for two days; but seeing the coffin in front of her; seeing her dad in it that morning killed her. If it hadn't been for James she would have joined him in there.

"Rani?" Nick's southern drawl came from her left. She looked up realizing that everyone was gone, and they had lowered the coffin into the ground. She took the three roses in her hand and frowned. A red one to let him know she loved him, a black on to symbolize his death, and a pink on to say 'thank you' for teaching her everything he did. Tears began to fall again as she dropped them onto his coffin.

"i love you dad." she said before running off. Nick frowned and followed behind her. He finally found her three minutes later underneath a chinaberry tree that the Cemetery had. She was sniffling as he sat next to her.

"i could say things will get better but I'm not going to. And I don't know what your going though, but Rani if you need to talk, I'm here for you okay?"

Rani nodded and looked at him.

"Promise you will never leave?" she whispered. Nick smiled and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"I promise." he said; They heard her mother yelling for her and he kissed her again, "goodnight Darlin'"

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><p>But he did leave, he went off to the police academy; it hurt Rani for a while but after two months she decided to work on her own life. Deciding she wanted to become an author, she went off to college and forgot about him.<p>

With all the success of her book series, 'The crazy life of Molly' that followed a tween girl as she grows into a young adult, she found herself in Las Vegas for a book signing.

"well you know dear, Jillian says that Nick is in Las Vegas you should go see him."

her mother said over her cellphone.

"Mom I haven't talked to Nick for nine years. That would be awkward." she said as she went through the room service menu trying to decide what to get for dinner, she hoped they would still send something up even if it was 11 at night. Suddenly a shot rang out from the hall way. Rani gasped and ran to the door.

"sweetie do not walk out yet are you mad. Wait like three seconds."

Rani ignored her mother as she threw open the door just in time to see a man in all black run through the stairway door. A few feet from her laid a dying man. She dropped her phone and ran to the man applying pressure to the wound as he continued to bleed out.

"help...me..." he groaned before the life left his eyes. Rani felt tears begin to fall as she stumbled to get to her cell phone.

"Mom I have to call you back I need to call the police," she hung up on her mother and dialed 911. "hello? I would like to report a murder at the Platinum Hotel. 9Th floor it's in the hallway."

"Miss someone will be there shortly."

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><p>ten minutes later Rani was in her hotel room talking with a detective Brass about what happened.<p>

"i was on the phone with my mom; I heard a gunshot so I ran out. Saw a guy about 5'11'' run though the stairway door; the guy was still alive so I ran to put pressure on his wound, he groaned out 'help...me...' then he..." she stopped and took a deep breath, "he died right there in my arms. I was the last person he saw a random stranger."

"a random stranger that was trying to save his life." a man said walking up, "I'm Gil Grissom, I'm going to need your clothes."

Rani looked at her confused before looking down; her shirt and slacks were covered in the man's blood.

"oh god." she muttered scared; she started taking it off right in front of them but Grissom's gloved hand stopped her.

"a female CSI can assist you in the bathroom;" he said as an older blond walked in. Rani nodded and followed the blond into the bathroom.

"you schemish?" the blond asked, Rani nodded.

"you would be too if the first puddle of blood you saw was your father's." Rani said bitterly as she stripped off her shirt and handed it to the blond. Rani saw the pity in her eyes, "it was nine years ago. Blood still kind of freaks me the hell out though. You gonna need my under garms too?"

The blond nodded and Rani blushed and asked her to turn around. She changed into a simple black T-shirt and a pair of black leggings. The two women emerge from the bathroom, more Csi's were in her room talking. One of them makes Rani stop where she was.

"_Nick?_" she gasped.

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><p>Nick Stokes walked into the hotel room they were using to talk about the scene.<p>

"the only witness we have is in the bathroom with Cath, she handing over her clothes." Grissom said.

"she must not be from here. She ran out and tried to save him." Nick said, he looked around the room, it was fairly clean. The bathroom door opened and Cath walked out. A Brunette walked out behind her and stopped as her and Nick's eyes met.

"_Nick?_" she gasped shocked, Nick stared at her for a minute before he recognized her.

"Rani!" Nick set his kit onto the floor and swept his friend into a hug. The rest of the team looked on in interest. "look at you all grown up. What are you, 25 now?"

"what are you, 30 now?" she asked with a smirk; he smiled and hugged her again,

"it's good to see you, Darlin."

"umm someone want to fill us in?" Cath asked. Nick smiled and turned to face his family.

"Guys this is Rani, she and I were good friends when she was 16." Nick said; Rani smiled and shook their hands. "Rani this is Catherine, Grisson and Brass."

"i know. They introduced themselves when they first got here." she said; Nick nodded and suddenly realized where they were.

"I've got to get back to work, Darlin' maybe we can grab dinner one night before you leave."

"yeah, I gave Detective Brass has my cell," She said winking at the Texan, Nick smiled as she walked over to Catherine and began talking.

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><p>-two nights later-<p>

Rani sat at a table waiting for Nick to arrive, he wasn't late, no she was early. She was too nervous to stay in her hotel room any longer. The waiter came over and asked if she wanted more wine; she declined and asked for water. Nick finally walked into the restaurant. He spotted Rani and smiled as he walked over to her.

"Am I late?" he asked. She laughed nervously and shook her head he sat down.

After dinner Nick walked Rani back to the hotel where she was staying talking about how their lives had changed since they last saw each other.

"I hated you." Rani said with a sigh. Nick looked at her in surprise "after you left. I hated you for a long time. It wasn't until I went off to collage and began working to get where I am today I completely understood why you had to leave."

Nick took her hand and smiled at her.

"i did come back. While you were at school, your mom told me how good you were doing and I didn't want to screw that up." Nick said; "you were gonna be a famous writer and all I was gonna be was a cop."

"nick what you do is so amazing. Don't ever thing that being a CSI isn't good enough; I don't care if you ended up being a beggar on the side of the street; Nick I Loved you and I don't think I ever stopped."

A smile graced Nick's face as he took her hand.

"I love you too." he said before pulling her into a Kiss, Rani wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

They break apart and Rani laughed.

"My mom is going to be so happy." she whispered; Nick laughed, agreed and began to kiss her again.

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><p><strong>I wrote this a while back an completely forgot about it. But I hope you like it, Review and let me know<strong>

**VRS**


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